2 Days left to visit the studios and see what’s inside this amazing, newly renovated building!
I’m in Studio 11, top of the stairs on the left. Click here for more info.
Here’s a link to a piece in this week’s Dunfermline Press about my show Northern Lights -An Artistic Odyssey of Scotland’s Coast.
Text from article below:
BE captivated by the beauty of Scotland’s breathtaking seascapes and lighthouses at the Fire Station Creative’s latest exhibition.
‘Northern Lights: An Artistic Odyssey of Scotland’, the first solo exhibition by self-taught Dunfermline artist Clive Ramage, 45, launched at the weekend and will run until November 22.
The artworks on display are based on Clive’s year-long travels in his camper van around Scotland documenting the landscape and scenery from Stromness to the Mull of Galloway, after being awarded a grant by Fife Contemporary Arts and Crafts.
The inspiration for the project came from Clive’s childhood experiences growing up in Arbroath.
He said, “I’ve always been drawn to the sea. Each night, like clockwork, the Bell Rock, Isle of May and Fife Ness lights would intermittently flash their beams out across the cold, dark sea and I would watch – mesmerised at my bedroom window.
“Those magical, exotic lights across the sea have continued to tantalise and inspire me and I have always wanted to capture something of that magic and atmosphere in pictorial form.”
The effects of the weather also provided their own inspiration for Clive’s paintings.
“The colours and atmosphere of each location probably became the more important feature of the work,” he explained.
“It wasn’t so much the lights themselves that were intriguing me pictorially, but the wild spaces between them, the surrounding landscapes.”
Clive has previously exhibited in the Royal Scottish Academy, the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour.
He is also a member of the Fife Dunfermline Printmakers Workshops and rents a studio in the former fire station.
He added, “Fire Station Creative is such a beautifully renovated space for exhibiting artworks.
“The wonderful Fife coast and the East Neuk in particular have also proved to be a huge inspiration to me, so it will be great to be show some of that work here too.”
Gallery curator Ian Moir said, “We’re really proud to be showing off the talent that comes from our own studios.
“I think this exhibition will be well-received by the public. The subject matter is very accessible and the artworks have been extremely well-executed. It’s going to be a great show.”
Entry is free. The gallery is open from 10am to 5pm Wednesday to Saturday and 11am to 4pm on Sunday.
Here are a selection of some of the paintings currently on show at Fire Station Creative. All are for sale.
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As well as having the solo paintings show on at Fire Station Creative, Dunfermline, right now, I will also have some of my Edinburgh etchings on show and available for sale at Edinburgh Art Fair this weekend.
Please click the links for more info! I’ll be demonstrating printmaking techniques there tomorrow, so stop by and say hello and have a go yourself if you can make it!
Hope to see you there!
Clive
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Only 2 weeks to go until my solo exhibition at Fire Station Creative. Here are some words and pictures to help shed some light on what will be hanging on the walls there. The preview will be held between 7.30-10pm on Friday 6th November and the show runs until Sunday 22 November. I hope to see there.
I grew up in Arbroath, so have always been drawn to the sea. Each night, like clockwork, the Bell Rock, the Isle of May and the Fife Ness lights would intermittently flash their beams out across the cold, dark sea miles and I would watch – mesmerised at my bedroom window. I’d follow the fishing boats as they puttered out into the firth from the harbour, eventually becoming little more than red and green dots that slowly edged beyond the moonlit horizon. The twinkling orange lamps of St Andrews and Kingsbarns would beckon to me from far away across the Firth of Tay and illuminate my dreams. Those mysterious, exotic lights across the sea have continued to tantalise and inspire me and I have always wanted to capture something of that magic and atmosphere in pictorial form. So my campervan travels around Scotland’s coast this year have provided me with a wealth of inspiration for new paintings and etchings; I feel I have barely begun to scratch the surface with the work for this exhibition.
I quickly discovered that it wasn’t so much the lights themselves that were interesting me pictorially, but their situations within the surrounding landscape and the wild spaces between them. Lighthouses proved to be a wonderful general theme for the trip and also a great focal point for some of the paintings, but the ‘interesting’ Scottish weather and the colours and atmosphere of each location probably became the more important feature of the work.
I was very fortunate to be awarded a grant by Fife Contemporary Arts and Crafts to help fund my travels, which took me from The Mull of Galloway at the south western tip of Scotland to Stromness in Orkney. I have yet to reach Muckle Flugga, Scotland’s most northernly lighthouse, but I will get there one of these days!
It’s been a very busy few months! I’ve settled into my great new studio at Fire Station Creative and have been working hard on preperations for my first big solo show there in November. More to come on that later!
My priority this past week has been to finish and frame some new works for the upcoming exhibition at the beautiful Frames Gallery, Perth. It opens this Friday 12th September and I cordially invite you to come along to the preview if you are able to (6-8pm). I handed my 4 pictures in yesterday and the place was full to brimming with amazing looking work. It’s all very affordable too, everything being under £500.
But now that’s done, I can look forward to the preview on Friday evening and then I’ll be getting back on with my lighthouses project (which will also include non-lighthouse paintings of coastal scenes!).
Anyway, here’s what I’ve included in the Frames show:
Just a reminder that Aberdeen’s Gallery Heinzel Summer Show is on until 15th August. Delighted to have my etching of Dean Village used for the Art Work advert. I have 6 pieces in the show, so if you’re in the area stop by. It’s a great place and always has lots of lovely work on show!
The Fire Station Creative arts hub opens next Saturday the 11th July in Dunfermline, with the brilliant John Byrne cutting the ribbon. Here’s an article in the Fife Reporter featuring yours truly on the same page is one of my favourite artists. I can only hope that some of his magic rubs off the page onto me! And there’s also a couple of shots of my most recent works-in-progress.
Do come along on the day if you’re in the neighbourhood. The place is fantastic and it’ll be well worth a look around the studios too!
PS. This was last week. Both paintings almost finished now …
After a few years of waiting and hoping that the Firestation Creative project in Dunfermline would become more than just a great idea, it has finally opened its studio doors to artists. I was first to get in and start working last Tuesday and it was well worth the wait! It’s a fantastic looking place and when the cafe and gallery are fully open to the public, which should be in the next couple of weeks, it will be a truly wonderful artistic hub for the town.
So here’s what’s currently on the go in my new studio. Two large oil paintings, one of Jeffery Street with Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh and another of my Awaiting The Turn of The Tide series, based on my travels around the Scottish coast.
